TOKYO (Reuters) - Leaders from 16 countries including the
Group of Eight (G8), China, India and Brazil will gather to
discuss climate change on the sidelines of the G8 summit in
July, Japan's top government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Global warming is at the top of the agenda for the G8
summit and host country Japan is inviting the leaders of
Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, South
Africa and Mexico to attend an expanded gathering on the topic
on July 9, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a
news conference.

"This summit is going to be the largest in history where
leaders of many countries will gather," he said.

The eight industrialized nations are meeting on July 7-9 on
Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, and are expected to
discuss 2020 carbon dioxide emission targets, among other
issues.

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Japan, the world's fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse
gases, says part of the solution to curb rising emissions is
backing sectoral caps for industries such as steel making and
power generation.

But Tokyo's proposal has been met with criticism from
Europe and some developing nations such as India at a climate
change meeting earlier this week outside Tokyo which brought
together 20 of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters.

Machimura also said Japan will host a meeting on African
development on July 7.